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You should read The Killing Star: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Killing_Star

Spoiler Alert!

In the late 21st century, Earth is at peace, sending fleets of Valerie spacecraft to the stars. Without warning, relativistic kill vehicle obliterate the surface of every planet, and a mop-up fleet of ships begins hunting down the humans that remain.

The last two humans on Earth are kept as zoo specimens. They ask why their planet, and all its species, were exterminated. The squid-like aliens explain their logic thusly:

1. Every space-faring civilization is capable of planetary extermination.

2. If given the choice, every species will choose to exterminate another species rather than their own.

3. Each side knows that the other has the same choice.




Classic case of MAD. "The only winning move is not to play".


The problem is that any development of interstellar vessels constitutes "playing".




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